Sixth Session

¹ SESSION VI

² In the month of March, on the third day, in the thirteenth indiction, while our most pious and Christ-loving emperors Basil, Leo, and Alexander were seated in the renowned palace of the Chrysotriklinos, and there was seated together with them Photios the most holy patriarch;

³ and further Paul and Eugenius, the most holy bishops and vicars of elder Rome; and Peter, the most God-fearing presbyter and cardinal; and with them Basil, metropolitan of Martyropolis and vicar of the Church of Antioch; Elias, the most God-fearing presbyter and vicar of Jerusalem; and Kosmas, the most God-fearing presbyter and apocrisiary of Alexandria; and besides these the most God-beloved metropolitans and bishops being seated together, I mean Prokopios of Caesarea in Cappadocia, John of Heraclea, Daniel of Ancyra, George of Nicomedia, Zacharias of Chalcedon, Cyprian of Claudiopolis, Nikephoros of Caria, Paul of Thessalonica, Theophilus of Iconium, Symeon of Laodicea, Nicholas of Philippi, Ignatius of Hierapolis, Gregory of Selge, Sabbas of Apros, Stephen of Cypsella, Niketas of Smyrna, Luke of Bosporus, Paul of Cherson—all these being seated together, Basil the Christ-loving emperor said: It would perhaps have been fitting to be present at the holy and ecumenical council that has been convened, and together with you both to accomplish and to carry through the matters of peace and concord of the Churches of God, in the presence of the whole assembly of hierarchs and priests; and by our own subscription to seal and ratify what has seemed good to this sacred and great council. But lest some of those who have tongues ready for reproaches and blasphemies should cry out that the presence of our imperial Majesty was some insult to this holy and ecumenical council—as though all had run together toward peace and concord out of some deference to our person, or even in some hope toward us—for this reason we held back, so that first, of yourselves and of the other hierarchical thrones and of the whole fullness of the Church, with the favor from on high lending you its aid, you might bring all things to completion according to the divine will and your own voluntary and free judgment; and thus our God-appointed sovereignty, having accepted together with you and ratified the things defined and confirmed by the holy and ecumenical council, might set its seal with its own hand. Yet I have thought it better—if it also seems good to you, all being in concord and deep peace and joined to Christ the head of all—that a certain definition of the ecclesiastical mind be proclaimed: not some common and intruded one, but that which the holy and great council in Nicaea laid as a foundation, and which the rest of the holy and ecumenical councils built up and ratified together.

⁴ Basil, the most God-beloved metropolitan of Martyropolis and vicar of Antioch, said: It is fitting that, the schisms and scandals having been taken away from every church—by your forethought and zeal, our Christ-loving emperor, and by the prayers and supplications to God of your spiritual father, our most holy patriarch Photios—this same definition should be one and the same throughout all the inhabited world, as indeed it is even now, having also been ratified by the present fourteenth council.

⁵ The hierarchs of God who were present said: By all means the definition of the council in Nicaea, which the rest of the holy and ecumenical councils also ratified and built upon, ought to be read out also in this

⁶ great and ecumenical council. The most holy vicars of elder Rome said: As our great emperor from God has commanded, and as it has pleased our brethren and fellow priests, it is fitting that no other definition be devised, but that the ancient one, which is held fast and glorified throughout all the inhabited world, be read out and confirmed. Photios the most holy patriarch said: According to the judgment of all our brethren and fellow priests, let it be read. And so Peter, the most God-beloved deacon and protonotary, came forward and read.